Blogs on More

This month in our Smart Talk newsletter, we interviewed Jane Farrow who organizes nearly 350 free neighbourhood walks in 50 cities to promote healthy communities.

So I thought I’d ask: What do you love most about where you live? If someone reads our blog who’s visiting your town soon, what should they see?

I live in Toronto, the city Canada loves to hate, so I’m not even sure I should answer this. But here goes: I love the lake most of all, especially the boardwalk in Toronto’s East End and the Scarborough Bluffs. I also think taking the 501 streetcar route across the city from Neville Park to Longbranch is a (cheap) trip everyone should do on their second trip to Toronto, after the C.N. Tower and the Eaton Centre have lost their appeal.

This giveaway is now closed Hey if you’re in the Toronto area, I have a giveaway for you: 5 pairs of tickets to see Rock of Ages, courtesy of Front Of The Line, by American Express! Rock of Ages is a rockin’ musical, making its Canadian debut at the Royal Alexandra Theatre. Featuring classic hits by Journey, Twisted Sister, Bon Jovi, Pat Benetar and Styx, Rock of Ages is an 80’s fantasy come to life. The tickets will be for either the night of May 12 or May 13th. The value for a pair of tickets is $198.

I want to write a joke here about “we’re not gonna take it” and you TAKING these tickets but inspiration is low. (I just had to cue that song on my iPod.) Help me out if you want as you enter, but follow the instructions below:

All you have to do is be at or above the age of majority and share your favourite band in the comments before midnight (Eastern Time) on Sunday, May 9th. I will select numbers randomly and whichever comments correspond to those numbers will win. (This way my taste in music will not come into it.)

Be sure your email address is correct in the email address field so we can contact you (it won’t appear on the site). One band/comment/entry per email address please. If your comment doesn’t appear right away, it’s in moderation, but we will see it.

Other legal stuff to remember: Sadly if you’re a resident of Quebec, we can’t give you the tickets even if you’re in Toronto. As I said, one entry per person please. When you enter the contest you agree that Transcontinental is not responsible for the fullfillment of the tickets other than giving your name to AMEX’s representatives, and will not substitute tickets if the show is cancelled, or for any costs associated with the tickets and that you will accept the prize as awarded, no substitutions.

I hope that didn’t discourage you because it’s a great night out.

And for more information on Front Of The Line promotions, visit the American Express Canada Facebook page. While you’re at it, visit our Facebook page too!

Thanks:

I love books. I love the smell of books and the feel of them, and I’m even attached to particular editions of books. My husband shares this addiction. In fact, when we were looking for our current home and the discussion was “chic semi-detached or townhouse closer to downtown” or “suburban bungalow with room for our 12, no, 14 Billy bookcases” - we chose the bungalow.

Despite being a believer in digital media, I secretly assumed that e-readers wouldn’t be for me. Then I got an iPhone, and my son was in hospital, and I was able to download the book we’d been reading together at home as well as a book for me to read when he was sleeping and it was not just convenient, but fun.

I’m not sure I’ll be converting to digital entirely overnight - but I did realize that if I continue to like reading books electronically I could have more furniture. Or live downtown! Ahem. Okay, now I’m playing attention.

So Monday night I got to check out the Kobo eReader, which is launching this May. Kobo is a “device neutral” global eBook retailer backed by Indigo Books & Music and Borders among others (that means you can read your downloaded books across a range of devices). And now they are launching their own reader.

What’s nice about it? First: The price tag. It’s going to retail for $149, which got my attention right away. While I think I’m going to continue to get into ebooks, I might change my mind. So not investing quite so much money up front is appealing.

The screen technology is e ink (black and white, and you can read it in direct sunlight), and the screen is 6″. The device is pretty light weight. It’s also pretty, and it has a quilted back which I found made it surprisingly nice to hold. When you power off, the screen shows the last book you were reading, which is a nice touch.

In terms of what you can do with it, it’s designed pretty much just for reading. It doesn’t have the 3G network capability that the Kindle has, so you probably will be uploading books through a USB cable attached to your computer. However, it also has Bluetooth which means you can hook it up to your cell phone if you find yourself experiencing a book emergency on the road.

For people who like single devices to do everything, this is a disadvantage. For people like me, who might prefer that they can take a bunch of books on vacation loaded onto a lightweight device that won’t ring, nor will be borrowed in order to play Bejeweled, it’s an advantage.

What’s your experience with e-readers been like?

I was in Winners over the weekend in that gift shopping state where I was wandering from section to section eyeing this and that but never actually closing in on a purchase for someone. This is what happens when I shop without a list (for advanced shoppers, see writer Terri Favro’s advice on how to lower your spending - and shop in one, yes ONE day).

Fortunately I’m actually almost done, in large part because I’ve been working with the More.ca team to put together…(drum roll please):

The More.ca holiday gift guide!

We’ve got present ideas for just about everyone on your list. As an added bonus, you can also enter to win a number of items straight out of the gift guide. So go have a look, be sure to enter, and stay safe shopping.

Beauty junkies rejoice: There’s a new kid in town.

Murale opened its Toronto doors this past Friday (September 4), unveiling a stylish, sleek space chock-full of makeup, skincare and perfume. While residents of Ottawa and Montreal are already familiar with the Shoppers Drug Mart spin-off, Toronto residents finally get a taste of brands like Mommy Makeup, LabSeries for men, and perfumes like Van Cleef and Arpel’s gorgeous Féerie (see it and other beautiful perfume bottles here!)

The store is bright and airy, and I loved the sense of space and intention; products were separated by brand, as opposed to cluttered together on a shelf, and the selection was wide without being overwhelming. The palette of white and purple, accented with mirrored display cases and brightly-lit shelving, makes the space pretty and inviting. The best part? Highly-trained pros await, offering advice and product picks.

While the concept is less than a year old (the first store opened last November), Murale has already nailed it: Offering an edited selection of high-end fragrances, luxury beauty products and skincare alongside services like the Benefit Brow Bar and a pharmacist who can give advice about the OTC beauty products featured, this is definitely a one-stop beauty shop.

Locations are planned for Vancouver and Calgary; www.murale.ca

So over the weekend CBC reported “Canada’s three main wireless carriers are planning to launch a mobile payment service on Monday, one that will allow their customers to send, request and receive money via their mobile phones.”

I’m all for new tools (as long as they’re nice and secure, and I’m not yet convinced about this one) but I’m pretty sure they’re making me dumb. Some of the evidence:

• I don’t actually know my husband’s office phone number. It’s on my phone. Unless, of course, I’ve left my phone somewhere. This also goes for pretty much anyone I know who moved after 2004. Your number is no longer committed to memory. It may not even be backed up. (Note to self: Back up data.)
• Plan grocery shopping? Why do that when I can make my husband disentangle himself from a badminton game in the backyard to come answer the phone and see if there’s milk in the fridge.
• I recently got lost on the quest for a warehouse sale and pulled into a parking lot to check Google Maps to see where I’d gone wrong. I connected to Google Maps, typed in the address, pulled up the address and cross street - and THEN I looked up and saw I had actually arrived at my destination.
• I think this text message speaks for itself: Am in aisle 6, where r u?

Once the phone takes over the banking, it’ll be official: My brain will be obsolete. Maybe that’s the plan - especially when the cell phone bills come in.

In midst of all this push for technology I was glad to read Kathryn Laskari’s ode to yearbooks over at the Toronto Star. Although I’m not sure where mine is stored - I’m sure I recorded the box number somewhere on my phone though.

I confess that I’m usually a registry shopper: When it comes to weddings and baby showers, I’m a slacker. I have a tendency to pop online and pick whatever looks nice and in within my budget, click yes on “gift wrap,” add an oh-so-personal note, and call it a day. This leaves more time for me to obsess over my own outfit and talk myself into a new purse. But it’s also that I know that my gift is going to be something that the couple or parents actually want.

But here’s a gift that might convert me, at least for recipients in the southern Ontario region: Samba Days.

It works like this - you buy one of the gift packs which contains a variety of activities. The recipient choses one and redeems the certificate to get going. Adventures include spa treatments, yoga classes, hang gliding, and Porsche driving, to name a few. That is so neat! The boxes are pretty (click on the thumbnail to check them out). And the chances are still high that the person who’s getting the gift is still going to be able to choose something he or she actually likes.

I found about these via Aeroplan so I’m going to give them a plug: If you buy Samba days through them you get Aeroplan points, and if you want to buy the gift packs with points (hey…more money for purses) you can do that here too.

So now the big question, since I have family across the country: Anyone know of anything like this outside of Ontario?

Ford’s unveiled self-parking technology that will apparently debut in 2010. It’s been a while since a new feature on a car made me sit up and listen, but that’s something I could get behind - especially when squeezing between snow piles in Toronto’s East End.

It got me thinking about what else I’d like to see:

- self-cleaning fridges

- self-locating keychains that position themselves on the hook overnight

- self-returning garbage cans

- self-nagging spouses (okay, maybe this one is not something technology can address)

What do you hope our tech gurus will work on for 2009?

Today’s inspiration is visual, but since each is worth a thousand words… check out Spacing’s 50 Stunning Examples of Reflective Photography. (I chose these because, at risk of sharing too much, my family’s down with the stomach flu and I needed something beautiful to look at. In between loads of laundry. I always thought that “a sick man is a dying man” was a stereotype, but I’m increasingly convinced that there’s some truth to it.)

If words are more your thing, here’s a quote from George Bernard Shaw I’ve been trying to work into something: “The only service a friend can really render is to keep up your courage by holding up to you a mirror in which you can see a noble image of yourself.”

Share your moments of inspiration in our forums, or as a View from her story.

This video has to be one of the best things going around the Internet. I admit it’s a bit of a stretch on the surface - it’s a young man’s video in many ways. But I think it also speaks to something in the human spirit that often seems to me to come alive in women at midlife - women who are ready to soar.

Plus, it’s just cool.

Go watch it and tell me what you think!